Zalishchyky
OnlineZaleszczyki
(in
Polish) /
Zaleshchiki
(in Russian)Little
town (13.000 people) on the banks of Dniester,
in Ternopil region of Western UkrainePage
created by Roman Zakharii from Berezhany
(town 100 km to the north from Zalishchyky)

Above: View over
Zalishchyky in pre war times...River Dniester flows on
the back
Geography, history and people of Zalishchyky...
Zalishchyky is
a small town on the banks of the river Dniestr (Dnister
in Ukrainian), which encompasses it around, like on a
peninsula, connected with bridge over Dnister also. It is
located at latitude of 48.6333 and longitude of 25.7333.
Very beautiful hilly area around indeed. According to the
topographic map of Ternopil region, hills over th river
at theirs highest points reach 300 - 315 meters. So it is
quite steep slope to the river. I have never been there
but I saw once large photo of zalishchyky, aeriel view on
some picture of wall calendar at home. Really wonderful
landscapes and flow of the river around like island town.
It has status of rayon (district) center being main city
in Zalishchyky district. Zalishchyky district is part of
Ternopilska oblast (Ternopil province) in Western Ukraine
(historic area of Galicia). But on other side of the
river, there is already Chernivtsi province (historic
area of Bukovyna), namely villages of Khreshchatyk and
Zvenyachyn. In terms of population it numbers 13.000
people. The nephew of my grandmother Stefania, used to
live there and they had house there but it was sold and
she passed away also. She was a pharmacist in
Zalishchyky, working in one of town pharmacies in Soviet
times.

Polish name for town is Zaleszczyki.
Ukrainian name for town is Zalishchyky
and Russian (Soviet period, on documents and maps) name
was Zaleshchiki. I presume the name
comes from two words bound together: Za
(behind) and Lis (forest)...behind
the forest if to translate. First dodumenatl mention
of Zalishchyky dates to 1340, but considering a few pre
historic settlements discovered in the area, town must
had emerged much earlier. In 1761 the town was given the
Magdeburg Right and a town status, what prompted the
development of the town during Austrian times (since 1772
it became Austria, before that it was part of Polish
kingdom). In terms of population, most are Ukrainians who
live there now. But before the war the were also many
Poles and Jews (1772 census listed 159 Jewish families in
Zalishchyky). Poles were resettled mainly to Western
Poland in 1945. Jews perished in the Holocaust. The
Germans sent 200 Jews to the Kamionka (Kamyanka) labor
camp; about 40 others were sent to a nearby army camp and
forced to dig mass graves. Soon the other 800 were
brought there and gunned down.

Photo above: Riiver Dniester flow nearby Zalishchyky.
River flooding in 1863, 1871, and 1927 caused
considerable damage. The 1871 flood killed about 100
people and destroyed a number of riverside flour mills,
with property and material damage estimated at 30,000
crowns.

Zalishchyky numbers 13.000 inhabitants
(1990). It has textile and food industry, brickworks
factory and is a resort and tourist center. First
mentioned in 1340, Zalishchyky devoloped as key town on
the way to Modavia and was property of Polish nobles of
Lubomirski. In 1754 it was sold to Cracovian
"kasztelan" S. Poniatowski, father of Polish
king Stanislaw
August Poniatowski. Because of him town got trading
privileges. In 1766 Zalishchyky was included into royal
possesions and got town rights in the smae year. In
1772-1918 wit was part of Austria. During repeated Polish
rule (1920 - 1939) it was a powiat (district) center.
With the beginning of II World War in September, Polish
Government evacuted via Zalishchyky to Romania. In
1939-1941 it was occupied by USSR. In 1945-1991 part of
Ukrainian SSR, since 1991 in independent Ukraine.

Other villages in Zalishchyky district are Pechirna
(Pieczerna / Pechernaya), Dzvyniach (Zwiniacz /
Zvynyach), Zelenyy Hay, Bedrykivtsi (Bedrikowce /
Bedrikovtsy), Lysychnyky, Uhrynkivtsi, Ivana-Zolote
(Iwana Zlote), Torske, Vorvulyntsi (Worwulince /
Vorvolintsy), Dobrivlyany (Dobrowlany / Dobrovlyany),
hamlet of Hlushka, Ustechko (Usteczko), Nyrkiv (Nyrkow /
Nyrkov), Nahoryany, Shutromyntsi (Szutromince /
Shutromintsy), Berestok, Stavky (Stawki / Stavki),
Blyshchanka (Blyszczanka / Blishchanka) , Myshkiv
Mmyszkow / Myshkov), Yakubivka (Jakubowka)...There
is railway in Zalishchyky and railway station. It
connects town with Chernivtsi (Czerniowce /
Czernowitz / Chernovtsy) on the south, Horodenka,
Kolomyya (Kolomea / Kolomya) and Ivano-Frankivsk
(former Stanislawow / Stanislaw) on south west and Tovste
(Tluste / Tolstoye) , Chortkiv (Czortkow / Chortkov),
Kopychyntsi (Kopyczynce / Kopychintsy), Khorostkiv
(Chorostkow), Terebovlya(Trembowla / Terebovla)
and Ternopil (Ternopol / Tarnopol) on the north.
There are two churches and river port. Among buildings
worth attention are Roman Catholic Church built in 18th
century, Rathaus (ratusha or city hall) dating also from
18th century and palace...Distance to mai city of
Ternopil on the north is at least 100 km, while much
closer to Chernivtsi on the south (some 60 km). In
suburbian village of Pechirna (in Polish Pieczarna) there
was prehistoric settlement and prehistoric burials were
found. There is also a cave in Pechirna (hence the name
from pechera - cave).

During 1375 - 1772 and during 1918 - 1939 Zalishchyky was
part of Poland. While during 1772 - 1918 it belonged to
Austrian empire (later Austrian-Hungarina empire when
double monarchy was introduced in Austria). In 1939
Zalishchyky was incorporated into the Soviet Union, since
collapse of USSR in 1991, it is in idependent Ukraine.
That is a short description and history of the town, all
I know so far.

Above: Map of Western Ukraine with Zalishchyky marked on
it

Story of
Starosciaks, Polish family from Zalishchyky...written
by Seweryna
Fabisiak
(Starosciak)

"My grandmother Tekla
Starosciak and all of her children, 5 Biological, Piotr,
Anna, Seweryn, Julia, Stanislawa, (My dear mother) and 2
orphans that she found Mila and Kazio (Galazka) and
raised, lived in Zaleszczyki. After her husband Bronislaw
died shortly after the WW1 ,after he came home wounded
& very ill,she was left to look after all of the
children. I have always been told, that the family was
very known. My "babcia" (grandmother), built a
little wooden "shack" kiosk and sold
"beatiful morele (apricots)" & other
fruits, plus some baked goods,when ever she was able to
get flour, sugar, etc. to all the tourists that came,
especially, the important "szyszkas"
(politicians) they were very kind to her,because they
were impressed how she held on to the all children,and
always give her few extra "groszy" (money).
After the "boys" (my dear uncles, Piotr,
Seweryn, Kazik) went to war (WWII) she patiently waited
till she heard from them that they were alive &
together. After she took the "girls" (my aunts
& mother) and moved to Wschowa (near Leszno, in
western Poland) that is where I was born and met my
beloved "babcia" (grannny). To this day she
still is my "hero" and "mentor". When
she died in 1951-52? in Wschowa, Poland, I ended up in
the hospital, could not live without my
"babcunia" (granny). In 1960, my uncle Seweryn
(he was very known in Zaleszczyki, he used to get all
politicians & others across the Dniester river to
Romania, he "boxed", "good swimmer"
& always in trouble with police for "sticking up
& hiding the Jewish friends my family had) brought
all of us from Poland, to Canada. Today, very sadly, only
my dear ciocia (aunt) Julia is still alive, all the rest
were taken by that horrible "satan" (my name
for it) sickness cancer!"

Family story
of Byczynskis, other Polish family from Zalishchyky
written by Rafal
Byczynski from
Poznan, Poland (written in Polish, see translation
below):

"My grandfather, as a former
rebel of Greater Poland (1918/19) remained in army as
professional unter-officer. In year 1926, he was
stationed in Warsaw and during so called "May coup
de-etat" his unit happenedto be not at proper side
so to say. Because of this, "as reward" he was
transferred to the Corpus of Border Defense at the
military border post in Zaleszczyki, wherehe served until
1935 and as sergeant got early military retirement (I
thought always that it was invention of communist
system). During those years when they lived in
Zaleszczyki (grandfather, grandmother, my father and his
brother) they got accustomed so much there, that decided
to stay, as thought forever, taking into consideration
the fact that they were not bound to Zaleszczyki by any
house property (house, estate or anything like that) and
whole family (both from grandmother's side and
grandafther's side) remained in Greater Poland. I know,
that when my grandfther was retired, he administered
small pansion (state object) and was actively engaged in
fruit trade in a big scale (as for those times). Likely,
by the end of the war they left Zaleszczyki and first
lived in Zieliona Gora (in Western Poland), at so called
"regfained lands" as people used to say then.
Later my father's brother with his family and parents
moved to Grudziac (former Torun voivodship) and my father
settled in Poznan. My father always spoke a lot about
Zaleszczyki, recollecting those lands (for example:
"What a maiz, real maiz grew in Zaleszczyki, sweet
as bananas") and hence my interest in this region. A
few years ago, collegues of my father (scattered not only
in Poland but around the world) began to organize tours
(piligrimages) to Zaleszczyki, but unfortunately his
health state does not allow him for such a trip. Thus he
has to enjoy the tells of participants..."

There were some German colonists
(Evangelical Lutherans) living in village of Bedrykivtsi
(Bedrykowce in Polish) and in Zalishchyky itself. They
settled there in 1784. Here is a link about Gauers, a
German family from Bedrykivtsi near Zalishchyky:Gauer
Family Pages

Page created on 20.10.2001 by Roman Zakharii
(from Berezhany, Western Ukraine. Berezhany is 100 km to the
north west from Zalishchyky) in Oslo, Norway (where I worked and
studied, doing two years MPhil in Medieval Studies). I had
graduated in history of Ukraine from the University of Lviv in
Ukraine and hold MA in Modern Central European History
(specializing in Polish Jewish historiography) from Board of
Regents of the University of State of New York
(I did it at CEU in Budapest). I would be interested to teach
Ukrainian, Russian, Soviet, Polish history
or languages or Eastern European Jewish history abroad. Please
contact me, if you have any suggestions.

Last updated on 09.08.2013 in Reykjavik, Iceland
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